Easing European Dependence on Russian Oil and Gas

With America now awash in oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) a new era in commercial oil exports should commence. For you see while we may be able to supply our own oil and natural gas the need is greater in Europe where a growing international threat in a ever more recalcitrant Russia looms. This has forced us for the first time in a long time to be a net exporter of energy.

The plan should involve both oil, and gas pipelines to the east coast from Keystone XL an order to then transport oil and gas to Europe through shipping lanes. The new oil pipeline for Europe should run contiguously with the proposed Trans Canada gas pipeline which runs from Calgary, Alberta, to Portland, Maine, and hooking up with Keystone XL in North Dakota on the way. This will deplete our ability to subsist on our own oil supplies but in this new and dangerous paradigm it is essential that we take care of our closest friends and NATO allies. Not for the sake of simply providing, but providing for the sake of peace and tranquility on the European continent.

At the same time that we are shoring up Europe’s oil and LNG supplies we should also be exploring alternative oil sources besides Russia from Asia. One such alternative is the extension to the Azeri-Turkmen Trans Caspian gas pipeline from Turkmenistan. This pipeline once extended and coupled with the Nabucco gas pipeline will strike at the heart of Eastern Europe and provide much needed oil and gas relief that the continent desperately needs.

In short the oil and gas situation with Russia is untenable given the current circumstances and should be ameliorated with oil and gas from the U.S. and Canada, while a concomitant gas pipeline is built in the trans-Caspian region from Turkmenistan to Eastern Europe. These projects don’t have much time left on their schedule given the facts that were already halfway through summer. The countenance of our leaders should be to prevent Russian imperial ambitions in Europe at any and all cost so as to dissuade any future unnecessary bloodshed. By coming together and building the bonds of trust that we have known so well with Europe and now with central Asia we can assure that the Russian federation doesn’t become once again the Soviet empire.